When you’re on your own, cooking for one often gets set aside in favor of drive-through meals or convenience foods. Though eating out, ordering takeout and zapping a frozen meal are convenient and fast, they come with a price. Not only are these options more expensive than cooking your own meals, but they aren’t nearly as nutritious. Want a fatter wallet and a slimmer waistline? Cooking for one gets more creative with these three fast and easy tips.

ONE – Single ServingsAmong the many reasons that single people avoid cooking for one is because most recipes are designed for serving four to six people. While a few leftovers are fine, having a refrigerator filled with uneaten casseroles, trays of lasagna and three quarters of a chicken isn’t ideal. When cooking for one on a budget, it doesn’t make sense to invest in food that will likely go to waste. Instead of focusing on big dishes, focus on meals that can easily serve one person.

The meat counter at your local grocery store is an excellent place to start. Instead of buying packages of chicken breasts, pork chops or steaks, buy your meat in individual servings. Most meat counters even have “prepared” meats, offering chicken cordon bleu or skewered shish-k-bobs. Buying directly from the meat counter doesn’t necessarily cost more per pound either. In fact, it’s often less expensive. In addition, since you’re only cooking for one, you can splurge on better cuts of meat than if you had to feed an entire family.

The deli counter is another terrific resource where you can buy smaller containers of salads, baked beans, homemade soups and other prepared foods.

In the frozen aisle, grab a bag of French fries before heading to the produce section where you’ll buy fresh lettuce or spinach leaves, tomatoes, onions and your favorite veggies. Finally, select a few individual rolls from the bakery.

By combining a few key purchases at both the meat and deli counters along with fresh produce and rolls from the bakery, you can easily cook your own delicious meals for one all week long. For example, you can have a teriyaki beef or chicken shish-k-bob, French fries, a dinner roll and baked beans on Monday; chicken cordon bleu, spinach salad, and asparagus on Tuesday; shrimp linguini, caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil), and a croissant roll on Wednesday; filet mignon, baked potato, salad and a roll on Thursday; and a grilled Italian sausage sandwich on a French roll, roasted eggplant and potato salad on Friday.

Each of the above ideas involves buying just one portion of meat and combining it with fresh or prepared salad, and adding a bakery roll and veggies. Once you get into the mindset of buying and preparing less food, you’ll find more healthy ideas when cooking for one.

If you prefer making your own salads, you can do much of the work ahead. Wash and chop all of the main ingredients but store them individually. Your salads won’t wilt when they are kept separate.

For chopped lettuce, store in a plastic food container or zippered bag along with a paper towel to keep it crisp. You can use zippered bags for chopped onions, mushrooms, celery, sliced tomatoes and other salad toppings. When it’s time for dinner, simply assemble a single salad serving and top with your favorite salad dressing.

Not sure you want to have meat with each meal? You can also buy pizza fixings for one. You can either use small prepared crusts or use round pita pockets as your base. Layer the pizza crust with tomato sauce flavored with oregano and basil, shredded mozzarella cheese and your favorite toppings before heating up in a toaster oven or microwave. Serve with a fresh salad.

TWO – Plan Ahead and Cozy up to LeftoversIn addition to making smaller meals, cooking for one also involves making good use of leftovers and planning for their extended use. For example, it’s just as easy to bake four potatoes as it is to bake one, so why not go ahead and bake four? You can have one as a baked potato with dinner, mash the second one with butter and cream for a serving of mashed potatoes the next night, enjoy a stuffed potato for lunch, and make simple potato soup using milk, sour cream, crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese and a little flour.

Another neat trick is to prepare several servings of ground beef and onions, keeping the crumbled, cooked ground beef in zippered bags.

Make a combo burrito using refried beans, ground beef seasoned with chili powder and cumin and serve with Spanish rice.

When making the Spanish rice, you can make a large batch of plain rice, dividing it in half. You’ll use the reserved rice to make rice pilaf later in the week. Go ahead and make a full batch of Spanish rice by warming it up with tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, onions and bacon. Not only will you have a delicious burrito and Spanish rice meal one night, you can use the leftover Spanish rice to make a tortilla soup to enjoy the following night. Simply add chicken broth, corn tortilla strips and heat up. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream and green onions.

While you’re frying up the bacon for the rice, go ahead and fry up the whole package. Store the extra bacon wrapped in paper towels in a zippered baggie. Now you’ll have bacon ready to use as toppings for salad, baked potatoes or in BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) sandwiches. You can even reheat a slice and enjoy it with eggs in the morning. Cooking for one is much easier when you have prepared foods.

The prepared ground beef is also ideal for making tacos and tostadas and for adding to any recipe calling for it. You can do the same with chicken by enjoying a chicken dinner and reserving extra meat for chicken salad, chicken fettuccini and chicken enchiladas.

THREE – Make Friends with Your Freezer and Hungry SinglesWhen cooking for one using the above tips, you may find yourself longing for a more involved meal such as lasagna, chili or a big casserole. You can still enjoy these foods, especially if you make friends with your freezer or team up with a friend. Go ahead and cook to your heart’s content but divide up the food in individual containers and freeze most of it.

If you have other single friends who like to cook, you can either trade extra portions or get together for meals from time to time. For example, you might cook up a batch of lasagna and split it with a friend who will cook up a batch of chili, giving you half. You could also have a standing dinner date where you cook dinner on the first and third Sunday of the month and she cooks dinner on the second and fourth Sunday. This is a terrific way to share your love of cooking dinner. For one, you’ll bond; for two, you’ll eat well.

Cooking for one is easy when you serve small sizes, plan ahead and save some in the freezer. You’ll enjoy better food and spend less, too.

How Much Do You Know About Healthy Cooking?Do you practice healthy cooking techniques? If losing weight or keeping fit and in shape is on your agenda, you'll want to take the quiz. Test yourself to see how much you know about what foods are good for you and how to cook for lean looks.